Willow drabbles
by Lenidrabbles
Summary: One of my favourite characters in the Jossverse. Here be stories about her in 100 words. WillowXander drabbles are updated as another story
1. autumn

**Last Autumn**

Willow watches as the leaves fly across the campus. 

The autumn wind envelops her and brings memories of days past.

-

Last year she was in Oz' arms as they watched the red leaves dance across her garden.

"Beautiful," she'd said.

"Oh yes."

Willow blushed. He wasn't talking about the sight anymore.

-

Sometimes she can't believe he's been gone for so long but, as the nature draws a full circle, she can't help but recognise the truth. Oz is gone. Oz is gone. Oz is gone. And Willow can still feel his arms around her as the leaves continue their dance.

**Play With Me**

Willow's eyes widened when she recognised the imminent danger. "Oh no." She warned him. "Don't you dare!"

He dared.

Covered in muddy leaves, Willow now glared furiously. "Oh Jesse, you are _so_ going down!"

Jesse sniggered and fled away from the mad redhead. Seconds later, Willow's screams turned into shrieks as a new load of leaves fell on her hair. "XAaaaaNDER!"

Xander only laughed impishly and run in other direction, winking at Jesse in conspiracy.

Jesse grinned, and began gathering more leaves.

After all, Willow never stayed angry for long, and they could always tickle her until she forgave them.

**Little Things**

Alone in the park, Willow settled against a trunk. "You know I was sorry," she began.

_"Yes." _

"I never intended it to happen. I wasn't thinking right."

_"I know."_

"It was an accident." She fingered the dead leaves beside her. "I am sorry."

This wasn't about the Great Mistakes, they were long past that. But the little things, those she'd never thought important enough, were what Willow apologised for now.

Tara-memory looked down at her pink sweater. It had been her favourite _white_ sweater before Willow's red sock. _"I always liked pink."_

Willow smiled. Another piece of absolution to cherish.


	2. elements

**At Candlelight.**  
fire

It begun with a simple candle.

Her eleventh birthday, the first her parents excused themselves from assisting.

When she told Alex, he and Jesse pooled enough money for a small, simple cake.

They lightened a candle and sang her Happy Birthday. Their cake tasted a thousand times better than the elaborated ones her mother used to buy.

It was then, by the light of the candle, that Willow noticed the shine in Alex's eyes and how his smile widened every time he looked at her.

Willow blushed when she blew her candle, and her wish would only burn her afterwards.

**Unreachable.**  
air

Sometimes Willow liked to breathe him in.

Sitting together on the sofa, she'd carefully lay her head on his shoulder and just...

...breathe him in.

She felt his songs. Sweet, strong; but impossible to catch. She felt the storm inside. Calm, powerful; but it'd bring you down if he so wished.

When Oz finally wished it, Willow closed her doors and forbid him to leave. But she'd forgotten he'd always been unreachable, and he drifted out of the window.

Willow peeked outside to watch as he never looked back.

Finally she understood. Sometimes people really felt like they couldn't breathe.

**Reason.**  
earth

Tara kept her grounded.

If Willow was ever asked for one reason - and only one - of her love for Tara, that'd be it.

After leaving the temple that'd been Oz's love, Tara had been there to build her a little niche. Maybe it wasn't as mighty, maybe the corners needed some work... but Willow had never been safer than in their private space.

As she'd seen the red spreading through Tara's blouse, Willow had felt lost, floating aimlessly through the atmosphere.

Tara had kept her grounded.

Without her, Earth had no reason to continue grounded to it.

**Essential.**  
water

H2O. Solid in cold, gas in heat. Easily malleable, it takes the form of any recipient. Life is impossible without its presence.

Willow learned how easy it was to ignore water's importance to survival.

She finally realised it one day, watching him hear patiently to foolish teenage complaints. He suffered bruises because he wanted the girls to be well trained.

Like water, she'd seen him change dramatically to fit extreme circumstances. Like water too, he'd filled all their empty spaces.

More than Watcher and than father, Giles was _essence_ and, like water, he'd always sustained them and made them survive.


	3. frog

**A not so Fair Cause**  
Willow stood nervously in front of the Council's Board.

"Yours is a very unexpected proposal, Miss Rosemberg," began Mrs. Rino.

Another teacher appraised her curiously. "We didn't know our students were worried about the environment, much less that they took interest in preserving it."

Willow heard some snickers, but held her ground anyway. "I- I'm i-interested... sir."

"A very laudable attitude too, young lady," he continued. "But, a campaign not to have frogs as part of the Biology classes?"

Willow blushed brightly. It probably hadn't been the best idea.

But she had to try.

Anything to get rid of them.


	4. Tarot

**Magician**  
_Action, Conscious Awareness, Concentration, Power_

Willow loved summers.

Not minding the cold water when she and Tara showered together...

Being finally able to go on a picnic and not fear the rain...

Yes, Willow loved summers.

But summer also meant no oranges and Willow didn't like that as much.

Oranges had always been her favourite fruits.

She took an apple and made sure that nobody else was nearby. Willow knew what Tara and the others thought, but they were wrong. It wasn't an addiction. 

Well, maybe the oranges were...

But it wasn't bad, was it?

She finally shrugged as she peeled the newly made orange.


	5. punishment

**From Within**

Willow avoids sleep. Her dreams terrify her.

Sometimes the ground opens at her feet, swallowing her whole and silencing her cries for help. Only darkness will surround her.

Sometimes she stands at the top of a mountain, arms wide open and her fingertips glowing red from the energy she absorbs into herself. Only darkness lies at her feet.

She always wakes up screaming, reaching blindly for a lamp. These dreams are worse than death, like chains weighing around her limbs.

Giles says that he forgives her, that her friends do understand.

Willow thinks that's why the punishment comes from within.


	6. dialogue only

**From Beyond**

"I'm not here to disturb you, believe that. 

You'd understand if you saw him now. He misses you so much, three years and he still tenses whenever someone mentions your name. He has tried to move on; but it never works. It hurts so much to watch him fail. He's broken, Anya. Our Xander is broken.

Maybe, just maybe, a real grave would help. Somewhere where he could talk only to you. I know you're part of the cosmos now, Anya, but he needs something else.

I didn't come to disturb your rest, I just need to help our boy."

**Shooting Star (gone wrong)**

"It was awful. No, worse. That moment reinvented that concept and transformed it into something more..."

"Awful?"

"Yeah! I mean, yes, he didn't like me, I could live with that. But to kiss _Buffy_? "

"You don't like her?"

"Actually, she's our best friend. Or was. Or something. It's complicated."

"It completely sucks."

"Yeah... You're good, listening to me and all. It's good to get everything out."

"You're welcome."

"I usually don't do this. Talking to strangers? Not me. Today is different, I guess. I mean... I wish it hadn't been Buffy. _Nobody_ could have been worse than Buffy."

"Done."


	7. ice cream

**Rhapsody in Orange**

It's always the little things.

Like that time she tripped in the playground and Xander put a orange smilie Band-Aid on her knee.

Or when she decided to paint her doll-house and Xander closed his eyes and told her in an ominous voice that her Barbies wanted orange walls.

Her first shirt with an attempt to a low neckline was orange, and Xander had smiled and told her she looked pretty.

They exchange chocolate (Hershey's) for a fruit (orange) when the mood hits them - and it hits at the same time.

The little things are what make Willow dream.

**Fuego y Hielo**

Sometimes Willow wonders how they look to others, what they think about this relationship she just started.

They are different, that Willow knows. She with her red hair, always following her movements like a faithful flame. Oz's choice for the week is blue, and Willow has to admit the colour reflects what's within him.

She talks too much, as if words would burn her from within. Oz always is careful, icing them in his mind until it's the right moment to defrost them.

Willow wonders how they must look, so different yet holding hands.

She thinks it must be pretty.

**Road to Glory**

Willow was afraid in the beginning.

Tara was patient and understanding, she always let Willow have her own space and Willow thanked her for that. Because space was needed, a place to stash all the fear she felt.

Willow wasn't afraid of loving a woman. She wasn't afraid of loving Tara. She was afraid of loving, as simple and scary as that.

But one day Tara managed to keep the fear away and slowly Willow began to trust that maybe this time it would work.

It did.

When she understood that it was meant to be, there was only joy.

**Chocolate Road to Ruin**

Kennedy came exactly when she was needed. Everything happens for a reason, and their reason was to support Willow in Sunnydale.

Kennedy pushed her to do magic when Willow was broken. She whispered about the power humming over her skin.

She was sweetness when Willow most needed it.

But Kennedy also fancied that power, she wanted her lover to do unnecessary spells.

To follow her meant something Willow still has nightmares about.

Kennedy had been what she'd needed. But that was another hell, another part of her story.

And those reasons are now buried in the hole that is Sunnydale.

**Yellow Brick Road**

One day Willow realises that she's followed the yellow brick road for the last decade.

She followed him when she was an awkward teenager, hungry for the approval he always had for her. She followed him when she began to become a woman, finding in him the support she craved.

Once she strayed; but he returned to push her in the right way. It would be years until he allowed her to follow him again, to learn the lessons he'd always wished to teach.

Control. Power.

Giles is the only one who understands them in the same lever she does.


	8. celebration

**Expectations**

The first thing Willow does that morning is to run to her desk, humming as she crosses off another day in the calendar. Finally, birthday number ten has come. Let the celebrations begin!

Willow runs down the stairs, mentally running a small thank you speech for her parents. Only Alex and Jesse know, but she peeked into the big closet last week and saw the Chemistry Set she'd been praying for. She readies the happiest smile ever for her audience, breathing deeply before entering the room.

Instead only breakfast is waiting for her.

Her gift stands in the middle, alone.


End file.
